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by Thomas MacMillan | Sep 14, 2009 3:35 pm

(9) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Fair Haven

The New Haven Awning Company on River Street has a fresh facade and a shiny new parking lot thanks to help from the city, which hopes to have businesses continue to thrive on the important industrial corridor.

Eight years later, Fair Haven’s industrial strip has been transformed from “a lot of blight” to “the picture of beauty.” So said local business leaders who gathered with city officials on River Street on Monday to recognize the achievements that have been made in a long-term overhaul of the area.

River Street, which fronts on the Quinnipiac River on the south side of Fair Haven, is the site of a Municipal Redevelopment Plan begun eight years ago by the city. The city has so far invested $10 million in the project, which is intended to create a thriving industrial center. The state has contributed over $5 million to the project.

Surrounded by fresh pavement, gleaming new curbs, and satisfied business owners, Mayor DeStefano hailed the revitalization of River Street.

“If you came here eight years ago, you would have seen 25 acres of largely vacated land,” said Mayor John DeStefano, standing in the newly paved parking lot of the New Haven Awning Company, at the corner of Blatchley Avenue and Chapel Street. The nearly-80-year-old awning business recently moved into the corner building, renovating the exterior with financial help from the city.

The mayor said that, “even in the midst of a recession,” industry on River Street continues to thrive. In addition to businesses like Fair Haven Furniture, Suraci Metal Finishing, and Phoenix Press, the city is working with Colony Hardware to build at 135,000 square-foot facility at former site of Hess. The new Colony Hardware operation will create 200 new jobs, DeStefano said.

Speaking ahead of the press conference, City Economic Development Officer Helen Rosenberg (at right in photo, receiving a round of applause) described the many improvements that the city has made to local infrastructure.

“This was dirt,” she said pointing to the freshly paved parking lot. She pointed out the freshly painted, resurfaced section of Blatchley Avenue, complete with new sidewalks, fresh granite curbs, and diagonal parking. Nearby Poplar Street, which “was all chopped up,” has also been redone and turned into a cul-de-sac, Rosenberg said. New sidewalks have been installed all along the south side of Chapel Street, she said.

Rosenberg said that the improvements will help to “retain and bring jobs to the inner city.”

“The River Street project is exactly what the state wants to be investing in,” said Peter Simmons, from the Office of Responsible Development in the State Department of Economic and Community Development. River Street development will help to keep jobs in the state, he said.

“We’re very excited to see the construction momentum,” said Lynn Mathis, a representative of Phoenix Press. “It was a lot of blight,” she said, describing the area prior to city and state investment. The press’ property value has increased as a result of other businesses moving in and because of the “massive street improvements going on, Mathis said.

“It’s the picture of beauty now compared to what it was before,” said Dan Barnick, co-owner of New Haven Awning Company.

The next step in ongoing improvements will be the construction of Colony Hardware’s operation, DeStefano said. Rosenberg said that the city is nearing completion of a deal with a buyer for buildings next to New Haven Awning Company. She declined to disclose the name of the buyer, for fear of “jinxing” it.

Comments

posted by: k on September 14, 2009 4:14pm

It looks great - I have been admiring it for a couple weeks now. River St. has such potential - it reminds me of now gentrified Red Hook, NYC. Now, let’s get rid of the scumbags loitering and hanging out all over Chapel closer to Ferry. I see a lot of people who can’t be bothered to get out of their pj’s out on the street. Near the auto repair place, not necessarily related to the business, are people who will walk or ride their bikes right out in front of your car w/o looking, littering and spitting all the way across the street, turning to glare or curse you if you honk or shake your head in disbelief.

posted by: Norton Street on September 14, 2009 5:36pm

Great so we’ve gotten two fractions of the problems solved in this area in the form of businesses beginning to repopulate River Street and the construction of new schools on Grand Avenue and James Street. Now to move on to the surrounding neighborhood by improving quality of housing, access to retail, density of civic organizations, increase in public services that are attractive to people of all backgrounds, and increasing ones sense of safety through design as well as law enforcement.

I’m not sure I understand why there is such a focus on the parking lot. Asphalt isn’t a step up from dirt, if anything it’s just another layer in the way of future development. The employees should live within walking distance to this business. There is an amazing park at the corner of James and Chapel, there is great historic architecture throughout Fair Haven and there is a decent amount of retail on Grand Avenue. Commuters coming into the area to park in this lot for work is counterporductive because this relationship doesn’t encourage people to make worthwhile contributions and investments to and in the neighborhood.

posted by: anon on September 14, 2009 5:48pm

Some rigorous traffic enforcement in this neighborhood would definitely help, K. I have the sense that the areas of Fair Haven near Chapel and River have worse traffic behavior than any other section of New Haven.

I know several people who have begun avoiding the district when at all possible due to this problem, so unfortunately they can’t patronize Guadalupe La Poblanita, one of the best restaurants in New Haven, as often as they used to.

Thankfully, there have not been as many illegal ATVs in this area recently, so the NHPD sting against those must have helped.

posted by: RAY WILLIS on September 14, 2009 8:20pm

This is completely subjective, but I’m really sad reading this. River street was always so beautiful to me, the empty warehouses and trolley tracks jutting out of the pavement defined my upbringing on Quinnipiac Ave right across the ferry st bridge. Under 10 years ago there were a few artist lofts in some of the warehouses by the park, and then all of the residents were chased out either by the property managers, the city, or both. I filmed a post-apocalyptic TV skit that aired on New Haven public access on river street where we burned an effigy and the cops never showed up. I explored the shirtwaist factory on the corner of River and Ferry St with a friend and it was beautiful and awesome. I totally tomlinson-st-bridged it on the trolley tracks riding my bike down river street every day of the week all year round and never minded, it was worth it for this piece of New Haven time forgot. Years later I was talking about music with my father and I was telling him about being really into The Smiths, Joy Division, & The Buzzcocks and how they all were from Manchester in the early 80’s and him telling me he wasn’t surprised, because Manchester was a post industrial city of closed warehouses in decline full of middle class white kids who were out of work and trying to cope with the influx of other ethnic groups becoming the majority and so on. And I really never made that much of a connection between New Haven and Manchester beyond relating to the timeless Morrissey lyric “This is the coastal town that they forgot to close down”. So yes, objectively River street is obviously vastly improved by not having trolley tracks that could kill cyclists and business and industry and not having dilapidated warehouses filled with weirdo artsy folks living Derek Jarmans wet dream, but its not the river st I’ll fondly remember for the rest of my life and I wanted to voice the other side of the coin on this one.

posted by: anon on September 14, 2009 9:41pm

I agree, Ray. Hopefully the city will be able to incorporate uses like the ones you mention as the neighborhood develops more. It would be a shame for the neighborhood to turn into a sterile office park, rather than a vibrant riverfront area with easy access to attractive waterfront greenspaces for the entire Fair Haven community.

And it would have been nice if the artists hadn’t been kicked out of River Street. I don’t know the circumstances of what happened there, but it should be illegal to evict people from a building if they are paying their rent, unless the lease specifies an end date.

posted by: Pedro on September 14, 2009 11:28pm

Norton street, I agree with your hope that ideally people would live walking distance from their place of work, but indeed for the time being there are companies where people need to drive into their work, and a parking lot helps.

It sounds a tiny bit haughty for you to say that ” Commuters coming into the area to park in this lot for work is counterproductive because this relationship…”
What do you say about the millions of people who work in NYC every day, or indeed the thousands that live elsewhere and come into the city?
Yes, people should be encouraged to live closer to where they work and use efficient means of transport to get there, but to say that people who come from outside of New Haven aren’t contributing meaningfully to the city seems rather harsh.

I think that minimizing parking where possible and not having ridiculously sized lots (Adrianna’s on Grand Avenue is one example), but having a reasonable amount of parking for this day and age I don’t think is a heavy burden, especially when it was already an empty lot.

Once the economy begins to rebound I eagerly look to continuing the urban infill the city so deseperately needs, and perhaps more parking lots will turn back into productive tax paying buildings.

posted by: cedarhillresident on September 15, 2009 7:41am

I am just a little pissed that they did not try to help keep the metal company in Cedar HIll. iNSTEAD THEY CHOOSE TO LEAVE A BURNT OUT BUILDING!Yeah good job??? At the expense of a smaller community!

posted by: Norton Street on September 15, 2009 4:06pm

Pedro,
“Commuters coming into the area to park in this lot for work is counterporductive because this relationship doesn’t encourage people to make worthwhile contributions and investments to and in the neighborhood.”
I said it doesn’t encourage people to make contributions. Not that it causes people to not make contributions.
People who commute to NYC should take the train: no parking required. Ideally, the vast majority of people should work where they live. Of course there will be exceptions but the exception should no longer be the person who walks down the street to work.

posted by: City Plan on September 16, 2009 8:34am

Please note that the River Street plan does include opprotunities for housing, and for live-work housing for artists and artisans.

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